Redemption
by Annaiese
Summary: Set a few months after the end of FFX-2. A new plan brings our two helpless al bhed together
1. Chapter 1

-1They stood at the edge of the world.

Looking out the mountains' slope emptied into the foothills and raced to smash into the ruins. Gippal shook his head and sighed, glancing back at the Al Bhed girl currently staring out at the sea beyond the devastation. The sun was setting over Mt. Gagazet, and the dying rays sent light striking her eyes, making the emerald depths appear far deeper then they were. Her blonde hair danced in the wind, strands falling in front of her eyes. But she didn't move them out of the way, just continued to stare at the ruined city and the sea beyond.

Gippal coughed quietly, and broke Rikku out of her reverie.

"It's time to go, Rikku."

"Yea, I know," she glanced up at him her eyes swirling with some emotion he didn't dare question. "It's just so sad, ya know? After everything that's happened, everything we've learned. To see how it used to be, and then…now. It makes me want to cry."

Gippal nodded. This wasn't the place for one of his usual crass remarks.

They turned, and walking down the steep path, heading into the destruction that was Zanarkand.

Rikku walked carefully through the rubble, stepping lightly over the debris that littered the ground. Every so often she glanced at Gippal, watching the other Al Bheds' progress through the devastation. Months after the defeat of Vegnagun, and the return of the Tidus, the Spiran Summit held their first meeting.

Rikku thought back to the odd and chaotic meeting, a smile flitting across her now somber face. Tidus, The Gullwings, Kimahri, Cid, Leblanc and Trommel, the leaders of New Yevon, Youth League, and even the Machine Faction, she thought with a grin, all had been present at the first meeting of the new government. They had hoped it would be a government that would bring everyone back together again, to leave the hate behind.

The meeting had been anything but calm, what with brother slapping his hand down on the table and shouting "I object" every time Gippal opened his mouth, Cid smacking him on the back of the head after each time, Leblanc's banter constantly with Noojie-Woojie, Yuna's constant smiling, and Paine's sarcastic comments in regards to everything. Rikku had to chuckle and Tidus' obvious enthusiasm, even if he had missed a few things. But when he spoke, the entire room fell into a hush silence, and a breathe sounded like a budget grenade going off in a room full of glass.

"Rebuild Zanarkand…?" my father had asked. I had looked at Yuna, but she wouldn't take her eyes of Tidus, and I realized that she had known for awhile. The stunned silence had lasted a few moments longer, and then I stood up.

"Well I think it's a great idea. When do we start?" I asked with a smile at Tidus.

He smiled right back at me.


	2. Chapter 2

-1Rikku kicked rubble out of the way as she walked down the slanting slope towards the ruins of Zanarkand. Her eyes drifted to the tall, brooding, absolutely-positively-you-better-believe down right _gorgeous_ specimen of manliness that was currently walking next to her.

_Oh, he is soooo yummy. But it's not like he's paying any attention to me… He's already planning how to fix this road up. He gets so focused on a goal that he loses sight of everything else. Even if everything else includes a bright, cheery, beautiful girl that's standing right in front of him. _These thoughts echoed in Rikkus' head, and a sigh escaped her lips as they neared the camp the seven had shared that last night. The last night they truly believed.

She reached out and touched Gippals' hand, stilling him as she glanced around the camp. It smelled the same, it looked the same, hell if even _felt_ the same. That feeling of dread was still with her even to this day. And stepping foot on this ground still gave her the chills. But she knew why it needed to be rebuilt. After Yevons' treachery had been exposed, the city that had suffered so much at its' hands needed to be returned. Yevonites still referred to it as the _City of the Dead_, and Rikku was determined to bring it back to the _City that Never Sleeps_.

"You know," Gippal said with a smirk. "We're going to have to do something about those monkeys."

She looked so sad, and for the life of him Gippal couldn't understand why. Al Bhed didn't believe in the teachings of Yevon, and everything had turned out okay in the end, right? I mean Yuna had survived, sure the demon-ghost look a like went missing for two years, but he was back too. Much to Gippals' dismay. The kid really was an idiot. But all in all, everything worked out just peachy in the end. So why was Rikku staring at the top of that hill, with eyes swimming?

He made a quick remark about the monkeys, and turned on his heal heading along the path towards the dome. Her heard soft booted feet follow behind him, as Rikku raced to keep up with him. _That's right, Cid's girl. Come with me, I'm not letting you leave me, not this time, not ever again. Your mine._ He smirked again as the entered the dome, his gun on resting on his shoulder. Rikku took out her daggers, ready for anything.

Gippal glanced over at her, "You won't need those, I'll protect you." Rikku just raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes in disdain, a look only a seventeen-year old in a bikini could pull off. "Just let me know if you get scared, _sweetheart_." The emphasis he put on the last word made Rikku want to chuck her dagger at his head, pointy side first.

The walked a few more minutes, with Gippal and Rikku both unconsciously avoiding the gathering of pyre flies that spun in dizzying circles around the room. They stepped onto a slab of walkway at the same time, and it shifted and groaned uncertainly under the combined weight. Both eyed each other, and took another step at the exact same time. The path pitched forward and slide toward the ground a good twenty feet below. Gippal moved in front of Rikku, cushioning her fall as he landed hard on his back with her as a tangled mass of limbs on top of him.

"Ouch! Get off," he mumbled at her.

"I'm trying," was the muttered reply. Gippal sat up and Rikku fell unceremoniously on her butt. She rubbed at it and glared at him through the shroud of hair that had fallen over her face. _So much for the knight in shining armor,_ he thought with a grin. Then he saw the snake move towards her, his gun was at his shoulder in an instant and a multitude of bullets flew and the green writhing coil a second later. Rikku screamed.

"Relax, kid. I wasn't aiming at you."

"I know. I just hate snakes."

"Don't worry, I can take on anything in this place." Rikku sighed at the cockiness that never seemed to disappear for more then a minute at a time. She just wished it wasn't so damn _attractive_.

Rikku reached up as Gippal offered her a hand, then stopped and stared.

"Uh Gippal?"

"Fryd?" (What?)

Rikku pointed, at the large behemoth standing behind Gippal, breath whooshing out in giant clouds around his mouth. Gippal stumbled back and tripped over a small piece of debris, landing hard on his back side. He grabbed his gun and was just lifting it to his shoulder, as the thing exploded into a swarm of fireflies. Looking around for who else could be with them, he spotted Rikku with a hand on her hip, a shiny object being tossed up and down in her hand, right behind where the behemoth had been standing.

He blinked twice rapidly. _Damn, she's good. _


	3. Chapter 3

-1"C'mon, Cid's girl, it looks like there's a path back up to the floor over that way." Gippal was annoyed, not because his butt hurt, though that did bother him a bit, but because he got shown up by a girl. Well not a girl, Rikku, the _only _girl. The last time he had embarrassed himself in front of her was like when he was five and snorted milk out of his nose when she told a really bad joke about a shoopuf and a hypello.

So now he was sore, embarrassed, and he needed to prove himself back to her with his amazing mechanical skills. _Shouldn't be a problem, _he thought, _after all I am known for having the best hands in Djose. Even if they weren't talking about his skill with fixing machina. _He turned around and offered a hand to Rikku. The steps here were steep and it was as good excuse as any to touch her. She took it with a mumbled thank you, but stopped when he didn't pull her up.

"Fryd?" she stared at him.

"I can see down your shirt," he smiled winningly. Rikku let out a huff a breath, pulled down on his hand and launched herself up, and using his head as a spring board, she landed on the walkway seven feet above his head. She turned around and smiled sweetly as he just stared at her.

"You make a good trampoline, Gippal. Must be because there's nothing in your head to get in the way," she smiled just as big as he had and offered her hand.

"Thanks," he growled. After reaching the landing he gave her hand a hard tug and had her colliding hard with his chest. He realized almost instantly it was a mistake.

_Aww shit, _the thought danced around in his head and then immediately flitted out because she just felt too good for him to give much of a damn. _She's so tiny, _he thought. He still didn't understand how this tiny little girl in his arms had managed to save the world, twice. He let her go, afraid of where his thoughts were going.

"I think it's this way," he said, pointing a finger in some random direction. He needed to walk, if he was moving he wouldn't feel her in his arms anymore.

Why had he hugged her?! Rikku wrapped her arms around herself. She dropped her arms as soon as she noticed she had put her hands in the exact same spot he had his not moments before. It had felt nice, she thought, like he actually cared. She shook the thought away. _Gippal, care? Those two words do not belong in the same sentence, ever. _

But she couldn't shake the feeling of the hard lines of him pressed against her. She had a feeling that those feelings would be with her for a quite a while yet.

Shaking herself yet again she raced after Gippal as he walked aimlessly through the rubble.

"Careful, kid. You might knock something loose in there," his sarcastic remark lifted through the air and smacked her right in the face.

"Meanie," was her petulant reply.

"Hurry up, it's this way."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is," he glared at her.

"Let me just read what Tidus wrote."

"No need, I know the way."

"What is it with men and directions? Jeez."

"It's not that, I know where I'm going, and I don't need directions from some bleached blonde guy who needs to put on a shirt."

"Oh really, and when's the last time you went to a blitz ball game in Zanarkand? And what's wrong with his shirt?" The question floated on the air and was met with silence. "I thought so, just hold on a second and let me think. Tidus said that the power supply for the stadium was held underneath the water pumps. So it must be south…That way!" Rikku said, pointing with one polished nail towards a crumbling doorway.

"How does he even know it still works?" Gippal asked with a glance backwards as he walked through the archway she had indicated.

"He doesn't, it was still working after the first attack by Sin, and they kept it in a room underground, it's possible that it wasn't damaged at all during that attack," Rikku ambled on, her mind not really on what she was saying at all.

"Why him?" Gippal asked suddenly, staring at her. "Why would Sin save him, not only save him, but transport him to a time where he could defeat him permanently."

Rikkus' face went pale and she stumbled around for an excuse. "I-uh-I-umm-I dunno. You really want me to try to dissect the inner workings of a giant monster?" Again silence, if Gippal knew she was lying he said nothing. "This'd be easier if he wasn't at a blitz ball finals in Luca."

"You could have asked him to come."

"What?! Are you kidding?! They have a shot at beating the Goers this year, I couldn't do that to him." A few more minutes past. "I think it's this way."

Gippal was silently cursing himself as they walked on. He hadn't meant to upset her, but he had been sick of her not paying any attention to him, and then she had to go and mention ghost-boy again. _It'll be best when we get out of here. I can handle my feelings when she's miles from me, but not when she's close enough to touch. _

"There!" she said it with a breathless little shout that gave him way too many images of other things that could make her breathless. He had to shut his eyes to get the image out of his head.

"Right," he said and walked forward into the room. A giant machina was suspended by cables over head, black cords zigzagging every which way across the room to link to walls and the ceiling holding the colossal engine up. It was at least ten feet long and was circular in shape with giant panes of glass and a mass of switches on its side.

Gippal walked slowly around the giant monstrosity, his engineer's eye appreciating the sheer magnitude of the electrical work. Kneeling down, and grabbing a screwdriver from his sack, he scooted under the machine to look at the electrical circuits.

Rikku walked over and sat next to his tools, handing him whatever he requested while he did something with those magic hands of his. Lights blinked on and off overhead, lulling her into a half dream state. His mild curses brought her back to earth.

"Dammit Rikku. Pay attention," a floating hand that she realized must have been Gippals' was shaking something lavender at her. She took it and realized it was his shirt, soaked with sweat. She swallowed audibly, and realized it was really hot in here. Work progressed for a few more hours, and she paid strict attention to whatever he asked for.

When it finally ended and he scooted out from under the machine, her mouth went dry. _My but he was gorgeous. All tanned and sweaty and sculpted. No wonder The feminine hearts of Spira were all a flutter. I wonder what would happen if I just leaned over and took a bite- whoa!!! Hold the chocobos. This was Gippal. GIPPAL. No thinking about taking a bite out of the guy you'll be working closely with for the next few months. Though maybe it'd be a nice distraction. _

Rikku considered this as he walked around to flip the switch on, the machine hummed briefly, and then with a jerking motion shot to life. The entire room lit up, machine could be heard coming to life over head. And the swirl of water through tanks was distinct.

"Think it'll work?" she asked, though her voice was still somewhat shaky from her thoughts early.

"Yea I think we can use it to power the machina to get this placed cleaned up. Now let's go. This place gives me the creeps on a grand scale." He glanced at her, eye taking in the flushed cheeks and skin, and over bright eyes. "You okay, Cid's girl?"

"Y-Yea fine," she stuttered. And she never stuttered. "Let's go home."

The two Al Bhed walked out of the dome, their thoughts flying ahead of them towards the airship that would take them both home, together.


	4. Chapter 4

-1A/N Beware of Tuna! And sorry for the long wait on the update, this was harder then I thought to write. But thanks to the three people who've been writing me reviews! I really do love the feedback! So yea /poke if you read and like review

"What if we moved the engine up, out of the basement? Couldn't we rewire it to supply power to the rest of the machina in the area?" Rikku was standing next to Gippal, a diagram of the Dome, and the engine beneath it, spread between them.

"With cords running everywhere?" Gippal raised an eyebrow. "It'd be more trouble then it's worth…No. That won't work. But maybe, maybe the system could be rigged to wirelessly react with the other machina in the vicinity.. Maybe…"

"Like the Mi'hen machina?"

"Yea, but without all the malfunctions. We reworked it so that they were all controlled and powdered by a singular base of operations. That could be valuable here."

Rikku blinked twice, her eyes going wide as Gippal leaned even closer to her to pick up a pencil and make small notes. She caught a whiff of him, whatever spicy cologne he was wearing mixed with the scents of oil and grease. It was intoxicating.

She watched his muscles bunch as he leaned farther over the diagram to make a note in the margin. Rikku tracked her eyes down his lilac covered arms to the hand currently making a quick sketch. A flash of what those hands were capable of, what they could do to a body, spun around in her mind. Coarse and calloused hands gliding over skin already heated. _Mmm, whoa whoa, hold the chocobos. Where'd all that come from? _

"Kid," Gippal sighed. "Your in my light. Can ya move?"

"Oh, right sorry," Rikku's voice sounded small even to her own ears.

"Hey Rikku! C'mere a sec, which model should we use for the excavation?"

Rikku jumped at the excuse to get away from Gippal and her crazy new thoughts.

_Well, that was interesting. _Gippal felt his breathing steady out, now that Rikku was far enough to away. He couldn't breathe when she was close enough to touch, close enough to taste. _It's her fault I can't concentrate. If I wasn't constantly being bombarded with the scents of flowers every three seconds I might be able to make this work. _He glanced back down at the rough sketch of the machine, looking at it from a new angle. Thoughts of Rikku, while never far from the front of his mind, had to be pushed to the back if this little scheme of Tidus' was going to work. And if thoughts of running his thumbs over the cheeks that had blushed crimson when he said her name found there way to the his brain, well then so be it.

As the meeting came to an end, Yuna stared at Tidus. He'd been a bundle of energy since he came back, and Yuna had been so happy to have him that she didn't question anything. But now, as his plan seemed to be growing, she couldn't help wondering if maybe he wished the fayth hadn't brought him back. She knew he missed his home, she just couldn't understand how rebuilding it would help. _It doesn't matter, he's happy… at least I think he's happy. _She shook her head. _He IS happy. _

"Yuna! Hey!! Yuna, wait up," the blonde blitz ball player caught up to her. "What's up? You look like someone just stole your favorite moogle plushie."

"Oh, it's nothing."

_Liar! _Her thoughts screamed at her.

"Mmm'kay, so you wanna go catch a movie at the sphere theater?"

Yuna stared at him. _I spent two years looking for you, missing you, waiting for you. I'll be damned if I haven't changed enough to actually stand up to you._

"Tidus?"

"Yea?"

"Are you happy?"

"Of course I am. I'm here, I have my friends, I have **you**. Why would I not be happy?"

"Then, why? Why rebuild Zanarkand?"

Tidus walked to the strand that looked over the water in Luca. He didn't look at her when she rested her arms on the wall beside him.

"You remember, that day on Mi'hen?"

"Yes."

"You asked me what Zanarkand was like. And I told you, I told you how I would show you."

_First it touches the sea, and then spreads to the sky. Soon the buildings look like they're on fire. It's really.. Pretty. _His voice echoed in her head.

He looked at her then. "After Bikanel, I felt so stupid, knowing you were walking to your death, and I had sat there and rattled on about how gorgeous Zanarkand was. I thought you must hate me, but you didn't."

He turned to face her, taking her by the shoulders so she was looking straight into his eyes. "I want you to see it, the way I saw it then. I want to show you that sunrise, and I want to watch a thousand more like it, without the threat of death hanging over our heads. I want to wake up in the morning, and watch the sunrise over the water. And I want to do that, all of it, I want to do it with you."

Yuna stared at him for a full moment, before leaping into his arms with a laugh and kissing him full on the mouth. As the kiss deepened and his arms tightened around her, Yuna decided she wanted the same thing.


	5. Chapter 5

Gippal was tired. But then again, tramping around Zanarkand for half the day, and then spending the rest in meetings, while trying to restrain yourself from acting on the insane amount of pure lust you have for a certain blonde in a short skirt and bikini often had that effect. At least he thought it might, his mind had been occupied with a giant machine and his suicidal best friends to be overly much concerned with his al bhed princess. Not that he didn't notice her, it was hard not to. Especially when said princess was currently curled up in the co pilot seat of his airship fast asleep.

Rikku stirred, and let out a soft sigh that had his mind veering off in an entirely different direction, even as the muscles in his stomach tightened. She let out another soft moan before shifting in the seat. She was going to be the death of him, he just knew it.

The beeping of a monitor signaled that they were nearing Djose, and that he was now actually required to pay attention, lest he fly his airship through the temple and end up with another hole in the wall. He still hadn't gotten around to fixing the last one Rikku had managed to blow in it with her alchemy experiments. Getting up, he walked over and stared down at the sleeping girl.

He was pretty damn sure that no one could possibly be as innocent as she looked, even with the least amount of clothes on to be kept out of jail for indecent exposure. Her hand was curled under her cheek, with the other wrapped around her waist, and her legs were brought up to her chest. Blonde hair fell over the arm rest in a cascade of gold that couldn't possibly be as soft as it looked. Gippal swallowed, not liking at all the way his thoughts were going. As it was he had to steel himself to touch her bare shoulder.

"Cid's girl, get up. We're here."

No response.

"Cid's girl…"

Still no response.

"Oh c'mon kid, I'm not carrying you in."

But, that's just what he did. Walking through the entryway, he eyed the mass of silent mechanics who were standing…and staring. "What, you guys finish all the machina while I was gone?" Without waiting for a reply he turned, and shifting Rikku a bit, opened the door to his room. It was simply decorated, with a bed, a dresser and a nightstand with a lamp. He refused to work in his bedroom, and so had an adjoining room that held his giant desk with loads of files cabinets. Walking forward, he dumped Rikku unceremoniously on the bed, and then wondered vaguely if he was supposed to undress her too. That skirt could not be comfy.

Deciding that he was liable to get hit if he even tried, he walked into the bathroom with a muttered curse about sin spawn and little girls. When he emerged Rikku was in the exact same spot, sighing again for what seemed like the hundredth time he picked her up, and throwing back the covers, tucked her in. While he was leaning down her hair brushed against his bare arm, and he almost dropped 

her. Glancing at her face to make sure she was still sleeping, he brought his hand up to touch the bit that was resting over his arm. It _was_ like silk. Gippal stared in fascination as it caught the light and sent colors spinning across the room in dizzying arcs. His hand came again to trail through it, but Rikku shifted again in sleep and murmured something unintelligible, and he stopped.

_Don't push your luck._ His thoughts warned him, and then he had another. Just where exactly was he supposed to sleep.

"Oh no," he muttered quietly. "Not going to happen. I am so not giving up my bed." And so, taking a quick step back before he gave into his desire about Rikku's hair, he climbed into the opposite side of the bed and deigned to stay as far away from the beautiful girl next to him as he could. Closing his eyes, he drifting into a fast and deep sleep.

But sleep, as it often does, betrayed him. As he shifted into wakefulness, through that dream like reality, he encountered a mass of golden hair and a lithe body pressed to his. Not remembering the name of whoever it was he was in bed with, which in itself was odd because he _always _knew, made a point of knowing, he did the only thing he could think of. He said "Morning baby," and leaned down to kiss the mouth that was hovering above his shoulder.

By the time he realized who it was he was kissing, her mouth was already working under his. And what a clever mouth it was, he had an instant to think that she couldn't possibly know what she was doing before deciding that if she didn't he wouldn't be expected to. So, happily reassured, he tilted his head to the side, and took them both under. Tongues danced, teeth scraped, and a little sigh escaped when she tilted her head away to catch her breath. Gippal, never being one to waste an opportunity, immediately decided that her throat looked taste, and took little testing nips out of it that had her shivering against him. Then bored with that and deciding her mouth was much more fascinating to him at the moment, he went back up, sinking his teeth into her bottom lip before slicking his tongue over the same spot. Another delicious shiver ran up her spine and went through him, as her hands curled into the fabric of his shirt. He broke the kissing, pulling back to look at his glorious angel. Her eyes were huge, swirling, green depths, and he knew if he wasn't careful he could get lost in them happily. Her lips were pink, swollen from his, and he had to check the urge not to go back to nibbling on them forever. Instead he dipped his head again, brushed his lips against hers softly, and whispered "go wash your face."

He smiled at her, and levering himself up, had to laugh when she just stared at him. She bolted upright, almost knocking him over in her haste to get to an exit. She shut the door, so he didn't see her slip down it on the other side, with her fingers pressed to her lips. Nor did he see the silent, congratulatory jig her feet did.


End file.
